


Connections and Changes

by kawada_s



Series: Main Universe [5]
Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 04:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10632705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawada_s/pseuds/kawada_s
Summary: When Hirono throws a party, Sho and Yoshimi take it as an opportunity to try and bring Haruka and Hirono closer together. As an added challenge, they also try to bring together Mitsuko and Noriko. Chisato and Yuka have their own goals for the night - to try and convince Satomi to have some fun for once!





	

Connections and Changes

Haruka Tanizawa wasn’t much of a partygoer. She had been to probably one or two in the past year, and a few get-togethers thrown by Yukie in order to celebrate winning a big volleyball game, but she doubted they really counted. They weren’t _real_ parties, at least not the type that most of her classmates thought of when they heard the word. At the parties she went to, the only ‘wild’ things that happened were the occasional extreme sugar rush or intense game of Monopoly. It made her feel rather pathetic looking back at it.

Because of those facts, never in a million years would she expect to be invited to one of Hirono Shimizu’s parties. She had walked up to her in the hallway and asked her right there if she’d be interested in coming, at the end adding as an obvious that her friends could come too if she wanted. When Hirono had walked away, she had just stood there for a few moments, wondering what had just happened. Sure, she and Hirono were on good terms, but they weren’t close enough or knew each other well enough to be friends, she thought. Their previous encounters must have stuck with her, however, as Hirono considered _her_ cool enough to invite to one of her parties. Sure, it was only a small thing in the scheme of things, but it still made her feel pretty good about herself.

The night of the party had now arrived, and when Haruka and her friends got there, it seems like things were in full swing. Several people walked inside as they approached the house, loud music blaring. Immediately, Haruka noticed that the music wasn’t exactly Hirono’s style, but at the same time, it wasn’t nauseating pop music. She wondered for a minute if she had picked it herself, or if she’d given the music duties to one of her friends before telling herself it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting through the door.

“Are you guys ready?” Haruka looked back at her friends. Out of her group, Yukie, Chisato, Yuka, Satomi and Yuko had agreed to come. Noriko had been invited as well, actually getting an invite herself instead of being added as an afterthought, which the group had thought was weird. What had been weirder was the fact that Noriko had said she was going to come early, saying she’d see them there. They had decided not to ask, though.

“We aren’t even in the door yet and I hate it already,” Satomi frowned. Haruka rolled her eyes, still wondering why she had even tagged along. “It’s not too late to go home and actually do something that’s actually _intellectual.”_

“I-I kind of have to agree with Satomi on this one. It’ll be loud and crowded… and it’s not really our scene, is it?” Yuko stuttered, looking at the group nervously. Haruka wasn’t too sure why Yuko had come, her incredibly out of place here, but she had put it down to her being too scared to say no. She was sure Satomi would take her home if she asked, but she probably wouldn’t speak up.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Yukie smiled over at the two of them, always trying to be the positive one of the group. “I’ve been to parties, they’ve been fun. You’ll love it.”

“ _You’ve_ been to parties, Yukie? The only one I can think of was that one that one you went to – Kiriyama’s party. Who was there? The Kiriyama family, some weird guy, Nanahara… that sounds extremely lame, no offense,” Yuka laughed. As Chisato joined in, a small smile appeared on Yuko’s face.

“It was the type of party you can only understand if you were there, Yuka,” Yukie said, almost defensively.

“Yeah, yeah, only because _Nanahara_ was there. Speaking of him, is he gonna be here tonight?” Chisato joked. Haruka took that as her time to tune out. She was trying her hardest to be the supportive best friend, she really was, but she found it much easier to tune out when Yukie’s crush on Shuya came up in conversation if it was practical.

“I’m not sure,” Yukie shrugged. “If he is, of course I’m going to try and talk to him. Anyway, we should probably go in. Everyone ready?” The group all nodded, while Satomi dug around for something in her bag.

“Well, now I am. I just remembered I have this with me. It’s the only thing that makes social events like these _bearable,”_ Satomi proclaimed. The group looked over at her to see an almost smug smile on her face as she looked down at what she now held in hands – a thick, heavy math textbook. Even though it was _Satomi_ , they still couldn’t believe it.

“Satomi, you really bought a textbook to a party?!” Chisato exclaimed as if she were in a state of utter shock. Satomi looked at her as if she were crazy, and just shrugged.

“You can enjoy the party in your way, and I can enjoy it in my way,” Satomi said, and that was the end of it. As she followed Haruka up the driveway, the group almost in the door, Chisato and Yuka exchanged a look of mischief. They were determined to make Satomi actually lighten up and have fun tonight… whatever it took.

\---

Within several minutes of getting in the door, Haruka and her friends split up, all seeming to have differing plans for the evening. Yukie was the first to go, making a beeline for Shuya as soon as she saw him, then it was Yuka and Chisato, going off to get a drink while they discussed their plan to get Satomi to have fun. After Satomi and Yuko left, awkwardly sitting down on a couch surrounded by badly dancing teenagers, Haruka was alone.

 _Well,_ she thought to herself. _What should I do now?_

“Hey,” a voice she immediately recognised came from behind her, just barely heard over the music. It was Sho Tsukioka. It made sense he was here; he and Hirono were kind of good friends, and he’d probably be cool enough for her to tolerate having around. Haruka turned around and shot him a smile, grateful he had saved her from standing there alone like an idiot.

“Sho! It’s great to see you,” Haruka nodded at him. “All my friends kind of deserted me, so you pretty much stopped me from looking like a complete loser.”

“Glad I can be of help. We can’t have you looking like a loser at a party – but I doubt that would come easy. Would you be able to beat that?” Sho frowned, pointing across the room. Haruka laughed when she realised he was pointing at Satomi, staring intently at her math textbook.

“Yeah… that would be pretty hard to beat,” Haruka said. She felt kind of bad for making fun of Satomi, but she had to jump on the bandwagon. Seriously, who brought a textbook to a party?

“So, do you want to get a drink?” Sho asked her. Haruka nodded, and he began to lead the way to Hirono’s kitchen. Very briefly, Haruka completely missing it, he turned around to meet the eyes of Hirono, who was leaning against a wall, giving her a wink. In response, she gave him the finger.

Sho decided to ignore this fact. Just like how Chisato and Yuka were plotting to get Satomi to enjoy herself and Yukie was plotting to get closer to Shuya, he was plotting as well. It wasn’t a crazy scheme to get closer to Kazuo – he had decided to skip the party, deciding he had already had a successful experience with no need to repeat it – and was instead playing matchmaker for someone else. They hadn’t exactly asked him to, but he knew they would be thanking him in the end.

He didn’t know how everyone missed the fact that Hirono was extremely into Haruka. She could barely say a word around her, and when she did, usually came out with something that made her look like an idiot, and blushed furiously as soon as she was done talking. This just did not happen to Hirono. She often stared at Haruka in class, too, which she did a really bad job of hiding. Really, how had they all missed it?

Tonight, he was determined to get them to make a connection. Even just a friendship would be a good start. Then, they’d have an excuse to talk more. Hirono had already done the first hard job – actually inviting her to the party – and Haruka had conveniently turned up, so that was a step in the right direction. With his matchmaking powers, he knew that it could work.

He hadn’t exactly made any matches yet – that was a work in progress – but there had to be a first time for everything, right?

“What do you want to drink?” Sho asked her when they entered the kitchen. So far, it had survived the night without being trashed, but there were many hours to go until the party began to show signs of shutting down. He gestured to the bottles on the counter, the majority of them holding something alcoholic, and then made himself a concoction while she made up her mind.

“Just something… uh, normal, I guess. I want to keep a clear head. I know at least one of my friends will probably need my help at some point in the night,” Haruka said, giving Sho a quiet ‘thank you’ when he handed her a cup. She took a seat at the counter while she drank, and Sho took that opportunity to start putting his plan in action.

**OPERATION: GET HIRONO AND HARUKA TO AT LEAST HAVE A MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION TONIGHT, OR IN THE BEST CASE SCENARIO, KISS**

**Participants: Sho Tsukioka, Yoshimi Yahagi, Hirono Shimizu**

**Sho Tsukioka:** I have it all set up. We’re in the kitchen. I got her a drink. All you have to do is come in, get a drink, and start conversation. Then I shall leave, and my presence will not be detected for the rest of the night.

From where Sho stood in the kitchen, he could still see Hirono. Having heard her phone, she pulled it out of the pocket of her jacket with a frown, rolling her eyes when she saw what chat it was from. Still, she furiously typed out a response, making Sho smirk.

 **Hirono Shimizu:** ‘my presence will not be detected for the rest of the night’ MY ASS. you’ll probably be hiding around the corner, taking photos, which you’ll send to the chat while bragging about how great you are.

 **Sho Tsukioka:** Wow. Am I really that predictable? I can yell at you about that later. For now, GET IN THERE AND TALK TO HER.

 **Yoshimi Yahagi:** You can do it, Hirono!

 **Hirono Shimizu:** I didn’t ask for encouragement. Aren’t you meant to be checking on Mitsuko?

 **Yoshimi Yahagi:** I did ages ago. She’s not going to do it.

Sho sighed deeply as he read Yoshimi’s message. Mitsuko’s crush on Noriko was another thing he was shocked that the class, for the majority, had not noticed. Mitsuko was even more of an idiot around Noriko than Hirono was around Haruka. It was pitiful. It was as if Mitsuko herself was so surprised over her crush that she did not know how to handle her feelings at all.

That’s why the side operation, ‘OPERATION: GET MITSUKO TO STOP BEING SUCH A DUMBASS AROUND NORIKO’ had been placed in action.

 **Sho Tsukioka:** The night is young. You could still convince her.

 **Yoshimi Yahagi:** I don’t think so. Her exact words were, “I can’t do this shit, so how about I go drink until I can’t stand anymore.” From the looks of it she’s well on her way there.

 **Sho Tsukioka:** great. She had just one job.

 **Yoshimi Yahagi:** um hirono

 **Yoshimi Yahagi:** Mitsuko kind of just puked in your closet

Sho stared at the text for a moment, grimacing, and then looked over at Hirono. The opportunity was slipping away! He watched as she muttered something to herself, most likely a swear word, as she stalked off to her room to go see the mess. Sho put his phone away, and tried to remain optimistic. It wouldn’t take all night to fix that problem – she’d have to come back soon. There’d be a lot of opportunities for her to talk to Haruka before the party was over…

“Sho?” At the sound of his name, he realised Haruka had been talking to him all along. _Great,_ he thought to himself. _Hopefully you haven’t blown it._

“Oh, sorry. What did you say?” Sho asked, walking towards her. The two walked back into the living room, taking care with their drinks, knowing Hirono would kill them if they spilt anything.

“I just asked if any of your friends were here,” Haruka said, taking a sip of her drink. “Just wondering, because you were alone when I saw you.”

“Kazuo-kun decided he’d pass, and Mitsuru did as well at the same time – I highly doubt it was a coincidence. Hiroshi and Ryuhei are here around here, somewhere. You’ll be able to find them if you follow the sounds of things breaking and/or weeping,” Sho said. Haruka gave him a nod, letting out a laugh. “To be honest, I thought it would be rather boring without Kazuo-kun around, but I’m starting to realise there’s other options out there. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like that, but at times I think maybe – just maybe – about giving up on him.”

“Really?” Haruka’s eyes widened. The thought of Sho ever giving up on Kazuo seemed shocking. “Did you.. meet someone else?”

She noticed a smile appear on Sho’s face. It was a small one, but told her enough to know it meant a ‘yes.’ Unable to help herself, she began to scan the room, wondering who Sho’s new eligible bachelor could be. Immediately, her eyes fell on Shinji Mimura, who was laughing in the corner with a girl she couldn’t place at the moment. She had known for quite a while that Sho had also had a crush on Shinji (really, it had been impossible to miss) but had something… happened between them?

“Oh no, not Mimura,” Sho quickly shook his head. “He doesn’t go to our school. I don’t really know if he goes anywhere, really. He’s a man of mystery, and a few words – or no words, to be exact. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again, but he was perfect.”

“Hopefully you do,” Haruka said to him. She looked down at the floor, wondering if one day, she’d feel the same way about Yukie. It was never going to happen. It would be easier if it would just fade away, but crushes did not work like that. Maybe, one day, someone new would come on the scene.

“Speaking of crushes, how’s yours? I haven’t seen her around yet,” Sho said quietly. He was the only person that knew that she was gay, and about her crush on Yukie. He was a gossip, but he could keep a secret better than anyone when it came to things like this.

“She’s here. She saw Shuya as soon as she got in the door, and then she was off,” Haruka laughed sadly. Sho looked over to where Shuya was, sitting down on the floor next to Yoshitoki Kuninobu and Noriko Nakagawa, the three laughing together. His guitar case was situated beside him.

“She doesn’t seem to be there now. Odd,” Sho frowned. As if she had heard them, Yukie staggered almost right past them at the moment, drink in hand, looking rather unsteady. Immediately, saying a quick goodbye to Sho, Haruka went after her to make sure she was okay.

At the very same moment, Hirono reappeared, looking absolutely disgusted.

“I swear, if anyone calls her the most beautiful girl in class after _that_ , I’m going to kick them in the fucking head,” Hirono muttered. “She ruined my second favourite jacket. My _second favourite_ jacket. I have never hated her more in my life.”

“That’s tragic and all, but you know that Haruka just walked off, right?” Sho said. “You missed the chance to talk to her _again.”_

“FUCK.”

\---

Yuka and Chisato stood behind the couch where Yuko and Satomi were sitting, looking over at them every now and then as they drank. They were just waiting for the right moment to put their plan into action. Chisato would give the signal when she decided the time was right, and then Yuka would strike. It was _perfect._ As the dancing crowd moved slightly, the two moved closer to the couch. Chisato looked over at Satomi, realised the time was right, gave the signal, and Yuka quickly sprang into action. She leaned over the couch, reached out, and took Satomi’s textbook out of her hands before she could even saw ‘solve for x.’

“HEY!” Satomi yelled, turning around to see who had taken her book. When she saw the look of absolute death in her eyes, Yuka almost dropped it. “Yuka, not funny. I was in the middle of a really interesting page too.”

“Really, Satomi?” Yuka frowned, looking at the page. “How can you find this stuff _interesting?_ Come on. We’re at a party, and you’re doing math? Doesn’t that sound weird to you?”

“It may sound weird to you, but it works for me, so please give it back,” Satomi said, trying to resist the urge to yell at her. Yuka looked at her, mumbled an apology, and threw the book to Chisato, which only made Satomi feel more stressed. “Be careful! That textbook was expensive, you know!”

“Satomi, we have a proposition for you,” Chisato smiled at her, while the other girl only glared in return. “If you try to loosen up and have fun, we will give you back your textbook. If you don’t like it, we will leave you alone, and you can study all you want. All you have to do is give us two hours of your time. So… what do you say?”

There was a brief, yet agonising pause before Satomi spoke again.

“I say, _give me back my motherfucking book_.”

Yuko looked over at the three, biting her lip out of nervousness. She wanted to diffuse the situation as soon as possible, before there was any chance of anything bad happening at all, so she said the first thing that came to mind.

“Chisato… how about I mind Satomi’s book for her?” Yuko asked, trying her hardest not to stutter. “You know it’s safe with me. You should go with them. It could be fun.”

Chisato nodded along as Yuko spoke, grateful for her words. Satomi’s face started to soften when she spoke, going slightly red with embarrassment as Chisato passed Yuko the textbook. Unlike what Yuka expected to happen, Satomi did not lunge for the textbook, she instead got up, giving Yuko a small smile. She walked over to Yuka and Chisato, wondering if she was going to regret this later.

“I… I suppose I can give it a try,” Satomi mumbled. Yuka let out a loud cheer of delight as both her and Chisato linked arms with her. Already, Satomi looked slight afraid.

“Are you ready to have FUN, Satomi? You’ll never look back!” Chisato announced, letting out a loud laugh. As she was lead off, Satomi wondered what on Earth she had gotten into.

As Chisato and Yuka began their quest to show Satomi it was okay to loosen up and have fun once in a while, Hirono passed by, on a quest of her own – to find Haruka. Sho had said he swore he go down the hall, maybe upstairs, but she couldn’t find her at all. She had decided to try her backyard, but all she saw there was Ryuhei push Hiroshi into table, knocking over a candle, almost setting him on fire. She had yelled at them, moved the candle, and then continued on.

As she turned the corner, she bashed right into a girl, sending a drink all over her top… her _favourite_ top! Great. This just wasn’t her night, was it? At least, unlike her second favourite jacket, she could probably save her top, but she was still pissed.

“Oh, sorry,” she heard a girl say. She looked over to see Yukie Utsumi peeling herself off the floor, definitely not looking like her usual self. If she hadn’t been annoyed over her top, she probably would have laughed to see the female class representative drunk.

“Next time, watch where you’re going, okay?” Hirono snapped. Luckily, nothing had gotten on the carpet. It wasn’t something she cared about at all, but the last thing she wanted was her parents bitching at her. Things were always a lot better when she and her parents _weren’t_ speaking.

“I’m looking for Haruka, have you seen her?” Yukie asked wearily, completely disregarding her comment. “Oh. Speak of the devil. There she is.”

Hirono turned around to see Haruka walking towards them, looking utterly embarrassed.

“I think you may have lost something,” Hirono said, motioning to Yukie.

“Oh. Yeah… sorry about this,” Haruka said, looking even more embarrassed as she took Yukie’s hand. Hirono just shrugged. “Come on, Yukie. I think it’s time for you to go home. I’ll take you.”

As Yukie muttered something unintelligible, Sho almost shrieked in protest from his hiding spot – crouched extremely uncomfortably behind a potted plant. He managed to contain himself, knowing better than to blow his cover. Somehow, he had to stop her though. He was not going to let this operation fail as ‘Operation: Get Mitsuko To Stop Being Such A Dumbass Around Noriko’ had. He had to have one success tonight, otherwise he’d go home absolutely ashamed with himself, and Hirono would never let him hear the end of it.

Sho emerged from his spot as quietly as possible, acting as if he was casually walking down the hallway and happened to overhear their conversation.

“I can take her home, if you want. I needed to leave for a while anyway, just to check something,” Sho said, trying his hardest to play it cool. Hopefully, they would believe him.

To his surprise, before Haruka or Hirono could say a word, Yukie walked up to him, throwing her arms around him in a clumsy hug.

“Thank you, Sho! You’ve always been such a great friend!” Yukie declared, despite the fact Sho was sure the two of them had never really spoken at all before.

“Oh god oh god oh god oh god,” Sho muttered as he walked down the hallway with her. Briefly, he turned back to Hirono and Haruka, giving Hirono a wink. For the second time of the night, she gave him the finger, trying to be discreet as possible.

Sho rolled his eyes and quickly left house, getting Yukie home safely. Finally, Hirono and Haruka could talk. The two walked into the living room together silently, Hirono having absolutely no idea what to say now that they finally got the chance to speak. Just as she thought of a conversation starter, Ryuhei Sasagawa ran up to them, looking terrified. Behind him, they could see Satomi walking up to him.

“You really aren’t anything, Sasagawa! You know that, right?! Get off Yuko’s back! SHE’S TALLER THAN YOU! I’M TALLER THAN YOU! EVERYONE, RAISE YOUR HAND OR YOUR GLASS IF YOU’RE TALLER THAN SASAGAWA!”

Pretty much everyone in the room raised their hand or their glass. Haruka and Hirono burst into laughter.

“I refuse to be victimised like this,” Ryuhei wept. Satomi did not back down.

“Do you want to fight, Sasagawa? Do you wanna fucking fight? Do you?” Chisato and Yuka quickly took her hands and moved her away from Ryuhei, who went off to find Hiroshi and cry more. She looked at them as if they were crazy. “What? I’m having fun! That’s what you wanted right?”

“How about we get another drink, Satomi,” Yuka said, the girl nodding. Chisato looked at her as if she was crazy, but Yuka just shrugged.

Hirono and Haruka looked around for a spare spot on the floor to sit, the couch and arm chairs taken up. They took a seat not too far away from where Yoshitoki, Noriko and Shuya sat, Hirono extremely grateful he hadn’t gotten his damn guitar out yet, and tried to figure out something to say. _Fucking Sasagawa, ruining it like that._ Technically, Satomi had wrecked it too, but she couldn’t get mad at her. She’d embarrassed Ryuhei, which was pretty much everyone’s favourite pastime.

“So, you really like her, don’t you?” Hirono said, keeping her voice quiet despite the fact she could barely be heard over the music anyway. _Great, Hirono, bring up the girl you’re pretty sure she is hopelessly in love with. Well fucking done._

“How… how could you tell?” Haruka asked her, eyes wide. Panic began to fill her. “You aren’t going to tell anyone, right?”

“Of course not. Tanizawa, I’m many things, but I’m not an evil bitch,” Hirono said. Haruka nodded, shooting her a small smile, believing her. Hirono wasn’t the type to do that, she was sure. Her secret could be safe with her.

“I really do, I guess. I’ve felt like this for a long time, but I was never able to truly figure out what my feelings were until a few months ago. At first, it was kind of exciting I guess, finally feeling as if I _knew,_ but then I got scared. What do I do? I want to tell her… but I don’t want to. I don’t want to ruin things, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for everyone to know that I’m gay yet either,” Haruka let out a small sigh. She felt as if a weight was being lifted off her shoulders as she spoke to her. It was obvious Hirono was taking it in, actually _caring_ about what she had to say.

 _Fuck, she really likes that girl,_ Hirono thought to herself.

“You don’t have to say anything until you’re ready,” Hirono said, leaning back against the wall. “But I know that doesn’t make it any easier. Crushes are fucking awful things, you know that? They make things so complicated. One minute, a person is just another face in the hall, and the next… they’re something to you, and you just can’t shake the feelings as much as you want them to go away.”

Haruka nodded, identifying with a lot of points she was making. For reasons she didn’t know, her last sentence stuck with her, and the words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

“You like someone?”

Hirono tried her hardest to mask the fact that she had been thrown off guard by the question, thinking to herself for a moment. _I could tell her, right here, right now, change everything. Yoshimi and Sho would lose their shit. But… I’m not ready yet. It’s up to me to make that decision._

“Yeah, just someone I met outside of school. She moved away, which sucks. We’ve barely talked since.”

“Oh… that sucks,” Haruka looked down, filled with a sudden urge to change the topic. “So… have you enjoyed your night?”

“Well… it’s been interesting. Mitsuko, last time I saw her, puked in my closet and ruined one of my favourite jackets. Hiroshi almost set himself on fire in my backyard. Your best friend spilled her drink on my favourite top,” Hirono laughed lightly and shook her head. “It’s better now I’m here, though. Much calmer. Your friends seem to be enjoying themselves. To be honest, I thought they’d hate it.”

Haruka looked over at where her friends were, watching as Yuka and Chisato clinked their cups together and took a long drink, as Noriko playfully punched Yoshitoki in response to a joke he’d just made, and most surprisingly, at Satomi and Yuko, in the middle of the room, dancing together, looking as if they were having the absolute time of their lives. Haruka couldn’t remember ever seeing them happier.

“Are they a… thing?” Hirono asked her, wondering if she was overstepping. Haruka looked at her, it obvious she hadn’t offended her, and shook her head.

“No, but I know they wish they were,” Haruka said. “They’re both too nervous to say anything to the other… hopefully that’ll change one day. They’d be good together.”

Hirono looked over and nodded briefly before getting up. All the talk of love and relationships was starting to make her feel a little ill… or probably more accurately, jealous, but she’d never admit it.

“Well, I’m gonna go get a drink,” Hirono said. “Want anything?” Haruka nodded, telling her to surprise her, and she went off to the kitchen.

Noriko looked over at them as Hirono walked off, a small smile filling her face. She had no idea they had been friends, but it was always nice to see people in their class getting along, especially the most unlikely of people. She was distracted from her thoughts by the feeling of Yoshitoki tapping her on the shoulder, getting her attention.

“Oh, hey, Mr. Nobu,” Noriko smiled shyly at him. She had noticed throughout the whole time they’d been hanging out that night, he had been ridiculously shy. Whenever Shuya had looked over at him, he had seemed to give him a reassuring smile for some reason she hadn’t worked out yet. It was odd, but it was probably nothing to be worried about.

“We’ve had fun hanging out with you, tonight, Nakagawa,” Yoshitoki smiled at her. Redness filled her cheeks, and despite his own nerves, he willed himself to keep speaking.

“Go on,” Shuya mouthed at him.

At the same moment, Mitsuko entered the room, looking like she had at the beginning of the night, fresh make up on and a new dress, ready to do what she had set out to do since Hirono had planned the party. She was still extremely drunk, having no clear idea about what she was going to do, but she had to do _something._ She could do this. Neither Yoshitoki or Shuya noticed her coming towards them.

“Well, I… I’ve wanted to tell you this for a while now-“ Yoshitoki began. However, he was not able to get through the carefully prepared speech in his head. To his absolute shock, Mitsuko was there, shakily holding out a hand for Noriko.

“Hey, Nakagawa, want to dance?”

Eyes wide, Noriko gently took her hand, letting Mitsuko lead her into the middle of the room, promising Yoshitoki that she’d catch up with him later. He just watched them disappear, in absolute shock.

“Did… did that just happen?” Yoshitoki asked shakily.

Shuya gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Yes, it did.”

\---

From the other side of the room, Sho, now back from taking home Yukie, and Yoshimi, watched, in shock as well, but for different reasons. First… Hirono and Haruka had sat down together, and had a conversation that seemed to look rather meaningful (they would have to beg Hirono for details later, which they would not get), and then Mitsuko had gone right up to Noriko and asked her to dance?! The night had been an absolute success after all!

“I can’t believe this… both operations actually worked…” Yoshimi said, watching as Hirono came back to Haruka, handing her a drink before sitting back down beside her. “Sho, they worked!”

“Well, Operation Get Hirono And Haruka To At Least Have A Meaningful Conversation worked,” Sho said, watching them for a moment before turning his attention back to Mitsuko and Noriko dancing together. “There is still a lot of work to be done with Operation Get Mitsuko To Stop Being Such A Dumbass Around Noriko, though.”

“Really?” Yoshimi frowned. “But… they’re together..”

“Look at her dancing, though,” Sho said, unable to stop himself from bursting out laughing when he truly took a look at Mitsuko’s dancing. When she looked over at it, Yoshimi had to agree… it was absolutely awful, and extremely embarrassing. She did what every good friend would do in this situation: take out her phone and record it.

“She’s going to kill me, you know,” Yoshimi laughed. Sho took a long sip of his drink, looking back at the two to see Noriko laughing too as Mitsuko continued to dance, her thinking she was quite good. It didn’t take long for him to start laughing again.

After he composed himself again, he raised his cup.

“Let’s toast,” Sho said to Yoshimi, “let’s toast to an almost completely successful night, Mitsuko’s horrible dancing… and good blackmail!”

“I’ll drink to that,” Yoshimi laughed. The two clinked their glasses together, took a drink, and wondered what the next day would bring.


End file.
